Copyright © 2008 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Volunteers at work on the Bird’s Flat waterline in Sequoyah County. The new waterline is a community self-help project enabled through a partnership between the Cherokee Nation and the Sequoyah County Water Association. SALLISAW, OK - A waterline is underway in the Bird’s Flat community near Marble City, thanks to a partnership between the Cherokee Nation and the Sequoyah County Water Association. The tribe contributed roughly $200,000 to ensure clean and plentiful drinking water to area residents. “We are very pleased to be working with the residents of the Bird’s Flat community to provide a safe and reliable source of water,” said Billy Hix, Environmental Health and Engineering Director. “The community members have shown the dedication and effort necessary to ensure the success of this waterline.” The project will include approximately three miles of waterline and will benefit more than twenty families in the area. Many residents in the community have bacteria in their existing water wells and have been pulling water directly from a nearby flood-control lake to supply their homes. “Right now, our community doesn’t really have anything but lake water,” said community member Kenneth White. “We have to haul water to drink and cook with. You can’t imagine what this waterline means to us.” The funding was made available to the community through Cherokee Nation’s Tribal Self-Help Program. Upon the completion of the project, the Sequoyah County Water Association will assume ownership of the waterline. According to Hix, the waterline has been in the planning stages since 2001 and could be the roughest terrain the tribe has worked on to date. “The terrain is very extreme, ranging from deep hollows to flat pasture,” said Hix. “The waterline will be short, but the work will be hard. In the end, getting this community the water they need is all that really matters.” The waterline is projected to be completed in the spring of 2009. “I want to send out a big thanks to the Cherokee Nation,” said White. “We really appreciate what the tribe is doing for us.” For more information about the Cherokee Nation’s waterline projects, contact by phone: 918-453-5111.

Related Cherokee Nation contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org